Consequences
by Yarol
Summary: Captain Ridley O'Bannon must face the fall out of her actions in the episode "Impact." A slight stealth crossover of sorts. TAG-verse


Captain Ridley O'Bannon hadn't expected to be called down to Earth after the near-disastrous incident involving the comet. She had a space station to set right after all. But now she was on Earth waiting for the head of GDF's Space division to see her.

She had been shown into his office and told to wait. Ridley had met the man once or twice, and mostly had thought him boring and by the book. His reputation was sterling, he was one of the youngest division heads, and everyone knew about the heroics in his career. But from the few brief conversations Ridley had had with him had been terribly, terribly stuffy and somewhat unmemorable. His office seemed to confirm that, the only anomaly a sleek black motorcycle helmet on a bookshelf behind his desk.

The door open and Ridley stood at attention.

And realized what an utter mistake she had made in assessment of his character. The look of ire on Lt. Colonel Turner's face was completely terrifying. She had never seen anyone with so much anger in their eyes.

He circled around her and sat down at his desk.

"Sit down Captain," he ordered just shy of a bark, "We are going to go over the incident that just occurred and then you are going to have to make a choice."

"Sir?" Ridley was confused, and beginning to feel a nasty sense of foreboding.

"Sit, Captain!" this time he did bark the order, and Ridley sat.

He rested his elbows on his desk and steepled his fingers. An unofficial staring match ensued, ending with Ridley's blue eyes breaking from his brown ones.

"Let me begin, Captain," he said in a calmer manner, "A few days ago, Fishler Industries attempted to bring a comet into Earth Orbit, instead they basically fouled up and almost caused a catastrophic event that was averted by International Rescue. During the course of this event Global One was in the path of that comet, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you called for an evacuation of Global One?"

"Yes, sir."

"You ordered a _total_ evacuation of Global One?"

"Yes, sir."

"Captain O'Bannon, are you aware that by GDF regulations that _a total_ evacuation order literally means _everyone_ is to evacuate barring unfortunate accidents? And not just 'oops' they're run out of seats?"

"Yes…sir."

"So, in effect you disobeyed a direct order, albeit your own direct order, and as such deliberately and willfully violated regulations?"

Ridley couldn't quite answer that, and her heart sank as she realized where this was going.

"This is a career-ender, O'Bannon," the Lt. Colonel growled.

"Sir!" Ridley bolted up from her seat.

He glared at her until she sat down again.

"Now I mentioned a choice you will have to make earlier. You have two options. First face court martial to try and defend your actions. And they were, and I do not say this lightly, breathtakingly Stupid. You first ignored your own order to abandon ship. Then you endangered a _civilian_ by batting your eyelashes and saying 'come save me.'"

"I did not!"

"You are aware that once an emergency has been declared the GDF records as much as humanly possible to learn from past mistakes?" the Lt. Colonel questioned with irritation, "I know exactly what was said. Save me, save my station like some damsel out of a bloody fairy tale."

"Yes, John Tracy is part of International _Rescue_, but there would have been no need for him to endanger himself, or a vital information hub for IR, or the current mission IR was on which he might have had to relay information for, or quite potentially any rescues that he should have been responding to instead of trying to save you from your own stupidity and vanity because you didn't want to lose _Global One_ on your watch, Captain. A loss, which while expensive, would not have been lain at your feet since there was comprehensive documentation that that idiot Langstrom Fishler would have been responsible for it. If you choose this first option, O'Bannon, to fight this , then the book will be thrown at you with some serious force."

Then unexpectedly the Lt. Colonel's face softened.

"I really do not want to see that, O'Bannon. "

He sat back in his chair and shook his head.

"The second option available to you, and I had to fight Colonel Casey and other division heads tooth and nail for this, and it only going to be offered just this once, is for you to resign your commission and give up what benefits you have earn thus far. But you will be leaving without a criminal record. Before you say that's unfair, according to most of command what _would be fair_ is you rotting in the brig for a couple of years."

He stood.

"I know this is a lot of pressure and you are being asked to make a choice that will change the course of your life with very short notice. I have a meeting I expect to last an hour; when I return I'm going to need an answer."

And he left.

Ridley O'Bannon was left alone with her thoughts.

* * *

The Lt. Colonel returned to a very quiet and thoughtful Ridley O'Bannon.

"I've decided to take the second option," she said calmly, rising to her feet.

He nodded.

"I know that was a difficult decision, and for the record, I am very sorry to be losing you."

"Sir, you did something very similar at the start of your career. Disobeyed a direct order."

"That's not quite correct," the Lt. Colonel replied, "I did disobey a direct order, but I did so to save lives, not a space station, and it very nearly cost me my life," he opened a drawer in his desk and removed something small, "Ridley, take this," he handed her a business datacard for _Pontoin Transport Unlimited_, "Juliette Pontoin is very selective, but she is always looking for gifted pilots with Space experience for her company, and I have already spoken to her about you. Recommended you actually. She's interested, and I know the jobs she takes are more interesting then they initially appear. I think you would be a good fit."

"Thank, Thank you, Sir!" Ridley stuttered in surprise.

"It's Conrad, Ridley," he offered a faint smile, "and I wish you the best of luck."

* * *

_Much Later That Same Day_

_At An Undisclosed Secure Location_

"So you've sent her to Juliette? Are you sure, Conrad?" Admiral Charles Gray asked, reviewing the file on Ridley O'Bannon Turner had prepared.

"I think she's Angel material, Charles; she'll take this to heart and think about the consequences of her actions more carefully in the future," Conrad said, taking a sip of his tea, wrinkling his nose and then dumping an unholy amount of sugar into it, "but Juliette will make the ultimate assessment."

"Have you given more thought to the ground agents?"

"Yes," and he hand over more files marked 'Metcalfe,' 'Svenson,' 'Lefkon,' 'Griffiths,' 'Holden,' 'Lewis,' and 'McGee,' "These could be among the first of the project's Color Officer Corps."

* * *

**_Author's notes:_**

I admit, I don't like Ridley O'Bannon. Actually, let me backtrack, I liked her in _Ghost Ship._ She was cool. Then _Impact_ happened, and I really really disliked her motive for forcing John to save Global One and unfortunately it reveals a manipulative side to her that really, really gets my hackles up. It all was selfish and stupid, and frankly poor writing. All they needed to do was put in a line or two about invaluable, irreplaceable medical experiments that were promising leads for cures being on board, or even a stubborn idiot, other than O'Bannon, who refused to leave Global One and O'Bannon's action would have made more sense, been a thousand times less selfish, less manipulative, and reflect a great deal better on her. Still, I do have some residual fondness for her obviously.

So okay, I love _Captain Scarlet_ and would love to see new series grow out of the Thunderbirds are Go universe. So I have Sir Charles Gray, Conrad Turner, and Juliette Pontoin (the original Destiny Angel) quietly building Spectrum in the background. Colonel Casey is going to have a fit when she finds out


End file.
